November 20, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT
After splitting last weekend with Arizona State in PAC-8 Conference play, the Utah Skatin’ Utes now shift their attention back to the top of the West Division as they get ready to take on three of the top five teams in the West at this weekend’s Beehive Showcase.
This year marks the fifth time the Utes will have participated in the event, which is hosted by Utah State and Weber State. Eight teams will play in the showcase as #1 Arizona State Elite, #2 Northern Arizona, #5 Montana Tech, #6 Utah State, #7 Weber State, #8 San Jose State, and Texas A&M will join the third ranked Utes in the competition.
The tournament runs Thursday through Sunday and will be played in Ogden and Logan. Here’s more on who the Utes will see in their four games this weekend:
Thursday: vs #2 Northern Arizona in Ogden (2:30pm)
The Utes will open up the weekend with their biggest game of the season so far as they meet the Northern Arizona Icejacks for the first and only time this season. NAU won the season series last year winning two games to one, including one in last year’s Beehive Showcase.
NAU is 11-1 this season in Division II play but are coming off a 6-1 loss to #1 ASU Elite last weekend. Gregory Park and Tyler Giovannetti will be the players to watch as they lead the team in points with 27 each on the season. Anthony Caruso and Seth Kollman are in net for the Icejacks, with Caruso tallying a 1.50 GAA and .944 save percentage with a 5-0 record while Kollman has a 4.89 GAA abd .874 with a 5-1 record.
Friday: vs #5 Montana Tech in Ogden (4:00pm)
Game two of the showcase will pit the third-ranked Utes against the fifth-ranked Orediggers for their only meeting of the season. Tech is 10-2 this year and is coming off a pair of close wins over BYU 6-5 and 6-4 at home last weekend. The Utes beat the Orediggers 7-1 in the Beehive Showcase last season.
Edward Schmalz is the main scoring threat for Tech as he has 24 points on the season so far. In goal are James Adamo and Alex Caravaggio who have both split time between the pipes so far. Adamo is 6-1 with a 2.86 GAA and .882 save percentage while Caravaggio is 4-1 with a 3.80 GAA and .888 save percentage.
Saturday: vs #1 Arizona State Elite in Ogden (4:00pm)
Saturday’s contest will be the biggest for Utah as they take on the top ranked team in the West in the Sun Devils’ Elite squad. ASU is 12-1 this year and undefeated against the West so far this season, outscoring their opponents 99-19 in their 13 games. They are coming off a 6-1 win over #2 Northern Arizona last weekend.
Brady Morgan leads the team in points with 22 and 12 different skaters have more than ten points for ASU this year. Alex Taylor has seen the most time in net with a 7-1 record, 1.36 GAA , .937 save percentage on the season. Backing him up is David Aman, who the Utes saw on the ASU PAC-8 squad in last year’s PAC-8 Championship loss. Aman is 3-0 this year with a 1.91 GAA and .908 save percentage.
Sunday: vs Texas A&M in Logan (11:00am)
Sunday’s game is the only one against an unranked opponent, but don’t sleep on Texas A&M. The Aggies have been at regionals the past two years and are just on the outside looking at the top 15 after the first ranking. A&M is 6-8 against Division II teams and haven’t played a game since November 8th, where they lost to #15 North Texas 5-0. This game will mark the first ever meeting between Utah and Texas A&M.
Kwin Mazzili has the team lead in points with 13 and six others have more than ten points so far this season. In goal for A&M is Ethan Palmer, who is 6-11 this season with an 8.19 GAA and .787 save percentage.
Utah is 7-6 all time in the Beehive Showcase and went 2-2 in last season’s tournament, beating Montana Tech and San Jose State while losing to Boise State and Northern Arizona. Their best record in the showcase was back in 2011 when the Utes went 3-1 in the tournament. Utah is 13-5-1 this season and will look to make a push into the top two spots in the West Rankings with a solid performance this weekend.
UTAH GAME NOTES:
READY FOR ANOTHER RANKING?
This weekend is the final weekend before the second ACHA Rankings will come out. The Utes currently sit in 3rd after the first poll and could see that number change this weekend with a lot of ranked games happening this weekend. While early projections have them going no lower than four right now, the Utes could be anywhere from number one to number five in the next rankings depending on what happens this weekend.
BIG WEST WEEKEND
While this weekend is huge for Utah, it is also huge for the rest of the division as all but one of the top 13 teams in the West will play ranked opponents this weekend. Seven of the top eight are playing each other in Utah this weekend for the showcase, which will put even more emphasis on doing well this weekend for all the teams involved.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
The Utes have been known as one of the top scoring teams in the ACHA and this year, the Utes are finding goals and assists from everyone. Nine skaters have double-digit points this year and 21 players have at least one point so far this season. Contrary to past years where one or two players were way ahead of the rest of the pack, this year’s squad has seen a more balanced attack force.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Over the last two years the Utes have found it almost impossible to find a victory in Ogden, going 0-6 at Weber State’s home rink heading into this season. That has changed so far this year as Utah is 2-0 in Ogden this year. They’ll look to build on the record as three of the four games this weekend will be in Ogden.
